Days 33 – 34

September 18, 2010

Today was a very nice day. The sun was shining, but it was a little chilly. We started our day with a tour of the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. Our group had there own tour guide. She was very informative, and it appeared that she spent more time with us, as the next tour had to wait for us to finish. After the tour, everyone stopped at the gift shop and bought lots of Teddy Bears. After the Teddy Bear Factory, we went to the Shelbourne Museum. It is a somewhat unconventional Museum, It is a conglomeration of art, design, and Americana. There was an old round barn that was 3 stories tall. It was moved to this location from it’s original spot a few miles away. One floor had quilts that were made by families or caregivers of folks with Alziemers. Another floor had pottery and ceramics, and the top floor had old Carousel Animals. Outside there was a huge building with Circus artifacts, an old train station, one room school, Steam Locomotive, and a personal train car. A Blacksmith Shop and several other period shops. Also on site was the 220’ SS Ticondaroga. An old paddle wheeler that sailed on Lake Champlain. Then we headed back to the RV Park where we had a little free time. We had our usual Social Hour before going out for LEO (Let’s Eat Out). We car pooled to a restaurant for dinner.


September 19, 2010

We awoke to cloudy skies and a few drizzles. It was also cool. We headed out to Shelburne Farms. The farm was established in 1886 as the model agricultural estate of William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb. The farm grew to approximately 4000 acres. It is located on the west coast of Vermont, overlooking Lake Champlain. Today, it is about 1400 acres, and is nonprofit environmental education center, working farm, and National Historic Landmark. The farm also maintains a herd of Brown Swiss Dairy cows. They make there own cheese on site. There is also a Bakery, Woodshop, and Renaissance School located in the Farm Barn. The Main house is now a 24 room Inn. It is open to the public, and there is a restaurant there that serves Breakfast and Dinner daily. The Inn has a great view of Lake Champlain. Our group was given a private tour of the farm via a wagon. Of course, after we left the Farm, the weather cleared up and turned into a beautiful day. After the farm tour, we went back to the RV Park for lunch. We then had some free time. When we arrived in Shelburne, we passed a Christmas Store, so we decided to go see what they had. Needless to say we didn’t leave empty handed. We then went back to the RV Park for Social Hour and a Travel meeting for tomorrow’s Travel Day to Montreal. After the meeting, we went into Burlington, VT, where we boarded the 144” Eathan Allen III for an evening dinner cruise on Lake Champlain. The boat carries 426 passengers, but beside the 32 people in our group, there were only 7 others passengers on board, but our group were the only ones to have dinner. We also had a piano player serenade us all evening, we even had a sing-a-long at the last part of the cruise. We also got to see the Inn at Shelbourne Farms from the Lake. The cruise lasted 2 ½ hours. New York State is on the west side of the lake, and we had a great view of the Adirondacks.